Virgin Mojito – Basil & Cucumber

May 8, 2016

How to make a Virgin Mojito – Basil & Cucumber Mojito

Basil Cucumber Virgin Mojito

Being quite averse to the tons of sugar that goes into cocktails, I was never a fan of cocktails. Because of this, I was quite a late entrant to the world of Mojitos. I tasted my first Mojito in 2006 at Britto’s in Goa where we ushered in 2007 with a bunch of friends. And I was in love with this minty fresh drink made using rum in its original version. It’s refreshing nature lends itself to a good choice for a daytime drink or for a brunch, something like a sangria does or a gin and tonic.

But come summers, and you crave for a refreshing drink every now and then, and it’s better to leave most of them unspiked, in general interest of everyone concerned 😛 😛 Hence these virgin mojitos!

So here’s my genius Basil & Cucumber Virgin Mojito, something that works so well for the summers, given the freshness that basil and cucumber, both bring to the drink. The base for mojitos is to muddle the ingredients along with the sugar / brown sugar to release all the flavours and then to top with soda, ice, rum and anything else you may be adding.

To make the virgin mojito, in a heavy glass jar or wooden bowl, muddle 1/2 cup basil, 4 slices cucumber and brown sugar until the leaves are coarsely crushed.

Add 1/2 cup lemon soda to this and mix well.

Take 2 tall glasses. Rub the rim of the glass with the lemon half. Mix the salt and red chilli powder in a dish. Dip the rim of the glass moistened with lemon juice in this dish so it is coated with chilli-salt.

Divide the ice cubes between the two glasses.

Divide the muddled mix between the two glasses.

Top with a mix of lemon soda (such as Sprite) and regular soda, depending on how sweet you want the drink to be.

Garnish with fresh basil leaves, cucumber slices and stalks of basil flowers if you have them on hand.

Serve immediately.

Recipe Notes

You can experiment with all kinds of flavours in Mojitos - fruits, herbs, spices, sky is the limit. So befriend mojitos this summer, like I have. Spiked on weekends and the good-girl version on weekdays 🙂